Four out of ten Hungarians cannot even make a meagre living on their income

The June 2023 poll on subjective poverty trends by the Equilibrium Institute and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung has been published. The survey reveals that the income considered necessary for a meagre living has risen from an average of 220,000 HUF net per month to 250,000 HUF net per month in the last three months, and four out of ten Hungarians do not have this much income.

According to the June results, a Hungarian citizen would typically need a net monthly income of HUF 250,000 to live a meagre subsistence lifestyle, HUF 350,000 for an average lifestyle and HUF 500,000 for a carefree lifestyle.

41% of respondents said that their monthly income was less than HUF 250,000, and only 4% said that they earned more than HUF 500,000.

And an additional 16% said that their income was less than HUF 350,000. This means that 57% of Hungarians do not even have the income considered necessary for an average standard of living.

29% of respondents said that they could not pay for an unexpected expense of HUF 100,000 out of their own pocket. 40% said they would find it difficult but could manage, and 29% said they would have no problem.

In June, 7% of households had great difficulty in meeting their usual expenditure, while 17% had only average difficulty. 39% of those surveyed reported that they needed a little extra effort to finance their household. This means that 62% of Hungarian households can only cover their everyday expenses with some difficulty.